The Simpsons Movie:

Critiques on Consumerism and Environmental Problem

By
Anizar Ahmad Yasmin
(2008)

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Consumerism is a social phenomenon that is becoming increasingly significant in the modern world. The negative effects of consumerism such as energy crisis and obesity disease start to affect human’s life. People are beginning to see that the environmental problems nowadays are also the credited to over consumption. This issue can be found in The Simpsons Movie.

To analyze the movie effectively, film studies is used. This is done by examining the scenes that are relevant to the issues and drawing the big picture from the scenes. Important elements that should be examined in relevant scenes include characters, dialogue, sound, background, camera, and the story.

The analysis shows that This movie depicts the idea of consumerism in the society and people’s neglectful tendency toward environment. Looking at the scenes of consumerism, there is a tendency that big industries are responsible for consumerist belief in the society, and the industries use it to get high profit. The scenes related to environmental issues show that the people have become careless toward the environment, and this can lead to serious problems for the environment.

The scenes analyzed has shown the issues of consumerism and environmental problem in the society. Yet, looking at the form of the movie that is also a product commoditized and sold to the consumer, there is a tendency of ambivalence. It is possible that the criticisms employed in the movie can be used to criticize the movie itself.